GENERAL TEAM RULES

Dancers may only take part in one team event.

Teams must have a minimum of 5 members and a maximum of 30 members to compete. If teams end up with absent members at the time of their performance, we will allow them to still compete and receive their award however they will automatically be placed last in that section.

All choreography and music must be appropriate for the age of the team and the audience. It is the teachers’ responsibility to ensure that team music doesn’t contain swearing or inappropriate language. Failure to do so could result in the team being penalised.

Teachers are asked not to stand infront of teams when they are dancing unless they are of that age that require guidance.

If there is only one team entered in a category, we reserve the right to combine certain categories (i.e. Beginner/Intermediate or Intermediate/Advanced). We may also give the teacher of that team the option of moving their team up an age level or up a grade level so they aren’t competing on their own on the day.

Team routine lengths must be no more than:

Beginners – 2 minutes
Intermediate – 2 ½ minutes
Advanced – 3 minutes

Team entry categories are based on the age the dancers in the team are on the day of the event.

75% of the competing team must be within the age division they are competing in. 25% of the team would be allowed to be older. Teams are permitted to use dancers younger than the age division.

EXAMPLE

12 dancers in U/14 team

9 must be U/14

3 could be 14 / 15 / 16 / 17

TEAM ENTRIES

The level that teams enter is the decision of the teacher/ dance school. Please enter teams in an appropriate level; below are some guidelines:

If a team is made up of dancers who enter beginners for solos/ inexperienced dancers, then the beginner team section is usually appropriate. A team made up of more experienced/ advanced dancers then intermediate/ advanced is usually appropriate for them to enter.

Any beginners team that wins against a few teams in a competition, should then move up to intermediate at a following event. Teams dancing in intermediate should win this category 3 or more times against a few teams before moving to advanced.

Team entries must be submitted 10 days prior to the competition. This is done by the teacher and must include 2 things for an entry

Team music emailed in advance to our DJ (music@hip-hopuk.co.uk). Please include team name, age category/grade and teacher/ school name.

Team forms which include the names and ages that each member of the team will be on the day of the competition. This is to ensure that every team is entered in the correct section and abiding to the 75 % rule so that the team sections are as fair as possible. Forms will be posted to you with your tickets or can be downloaded here. *** Please return the forms to us by post or by sending a picture of the completed forms by email/ text. forms not required for parents teams however please make sure they are entered by sending team music 10 days before.

Cases of illness/ absense affecting entry on day of event

In the event of a dancer being absent on the day which then has an affect on the age section the team have entered, the team should then move to the appropriate age section before any of the teams commence. Teams dancing in the wrong age section on the day may result in disqualification or being placed last in their section. We therefore recommend that the teacher makes sure the team have entered a section that allows them to still stay in the 75% mark to allow for illness/ absentees on the day. Again this is the decision and the responsibility of the teacher to ensure the team have been entered correctly.

TEAM MARKING CRITERIA & FEEDBACK

The judges will be using a marking guideline to help them with their decision on placing the teams. The judges will be asked to take into consideration the following points when marking the teams-

Team formations, positions & transitions

Content/ choreography

Presentation/ styling

Choice of music/ musicality

Overall performance, energy & enthusiasm

Technique of styles used

Judges will be allowed to penalise teams for the following-

Swearing or inappropriate language in team music

Any inappropriate gestures or movements used

Team outfits not being age appropriate

Music over time limits for categories

Judges will place each team section as a final. Our scrutineer will then combine all the judges marks to calculate where each team has been placed. Judges will also provide each team with some feedback from their performance. All the comments from each judge will be combined and it’s important to understand that the judges can often vary in opinion so you may see some contradictions in the feedback. Please note: we will not enter into any discussion about the contents of the feedback and abuse of this will see this feature removed from our competitions going forward. Feedback will only be available to the dance school teacher and not to parents or dancers. It is therefore the decision of the teacher whether to share this with their team members and/or parents. Feedback will be available a few days after the event once its been processed.